Can't seem to get WoL working- any suggestions?

[makryger]

So i recently switched to a new router, but since the switch, I can't seem to get the Wake-On-Lan working. I know I've got the right IP info, I've put the information in port forwarding, I know the computer accepts WoL because it has worked in the past. I even tried disabling the router firewall- still no luck. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could be going wrong?

[barnabas1969]

Are you trying to send the WOL packet through the router from the WAN side, or are you sending it from another computer on the LAN?

[makryger]

Wan

[barnabas1969]

Ah... what kind was your old router, and did it have a special firmware running on it... like DD-WRT or Tomato?

[barnabas1969]

I just looked at my router, because I couldn't remember which commands I had to execute at boot (when the router boots) in order for it to pass WOL through the WAN port. The commands (for DD-WRT) are below. Not sure if these will work with your new router. Basically, these commands allow broadcast packets to make it through the router. A WOL packet needs to be a broadcast packet (IP address 192.168.1.255) because while the PC is sleeping, the router and your switches may "forget" which router/switch port the PC is connected to... so it needs to be sent as a broadcast to all computers on that network segment.

If your new router is running DD-WRT, you'll need to add these commands to run at the router's boot... and change the IP address to match your network segment.

Here are my commands to allow this to work. You also have to open whichever port you are planning to use to send the WOL. In my case, I am using port 7777 for one computer on the LAN, and 7778 for another one.

ip neigh change 192.168.1.254 lladdr ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff nud permanent dev br0
ip neigh add 192.168.1.254 lladdr ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff nud permanent dev br0

EDIT: Corrected what I wrote above.

[UCBearcat]

I doubt this will help, but perhaps check if your new router has an option to filter multicast requests. I believe WOL uses broadcast packets, so I don't know if this is helpful or not. Worth looking into since it is easy to check. I believe most Linksys/Cisco routers have an option to filter multicast buried in their menus.

EDIT: pretty sure in your case you don't want to filter this traffic

[makryger]

I don't see any options like this. I think the belkin router may not be able to identify which computer is connected once it is put is put to sleep; it loses the local ip address. So I would need a broadcast packet to send to all the computers. I'm just not sure how this would be configured... all of the internet-based WoL utilities use a mac address and internet ip address (or ddnys), and so I don't see where a broadcast IP would go..?

[barnabas1969]

Oh, sorry... my explanation above was a little flawed. I have the port forwarding on my router to send ports 7777 and 7778 to 192.168.1.254. Then, the commands I added cause all requests to this IP address (which doesn't exist) to be sent as broadcast packets.

Can you install DD-WRT on your new router?

[makryger]

Unfortunately, dd-wrt is not supported on this router.

[barnabas1969]

Well then, you'll need to figure out a way to make your router send a broadcast packet when it receives an attempt to connect through the router to a specific IP or port number.

[Venom51]

Most won't forward anything with a 255 for the last octect. You can try changing to a smaller subnet say like a 255.255.255.128 so that the broadcast address is .127. It may or may not work but worht a shot. Good routers will let you do directed broadcasts but the cheaper consumer devices usually do not.

[makryger]

I have a Belkin N750 router- it wasn't a cheap router. But I think the issue is that it won't 'remember' a Mac address when the computer is put to sleep. It doesn't even have an option to set a static IP address for devices on my network.

So I think the only solution is to set up a broadcast IP address. That last '255' is the key. (I don't have any other wired devices on my network, so sending out a broadcast signal would only influence my HTPC). But as Venom mentions, it won't let me add those numbers. It calls the 255 an invalid value. In reading on the internet, this is a longstanding problem with Belkin Routers. The fix has usually been to access a secret advanced configuration page where you can type in commands. But that doesn't seem to exist anymore. The other method is to edit the backup configuration file itself. However, I can't figure out how to edit it. From my searching, it should become easy to read with a hex editor, but opening the file with a hex editor still makes it come out garbled for me. Does anyone else have any ideas? (I can send the configuration file if someone else thinks they can read it).

[barnabas1969]

You can try changing to a smaller subnet say like a 255.255.255.128 so that the broadcast address is .127.

Aside from buying a new router that is supported by DD-WRT or Tomato, what Venom51 wrote above might work for you... if you can figure out how to do it on your Belkin router.

[Venom51]

My only other suggestion is to pickup a lightly used CIsco 2821 and learn a little IOS. Gigabit interfaces and enough processing power to make sure you won't need another router for years.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cisco-2821-rout ... 19cf90cddc

I'm not far away from selling off my 2 2811's and replacing them with 2821's

[makryger]

Well, my older router did work fine. (its a trendnet). I could switch back. It would just be a shame to lose gigabit internet and 5 ghz wifi. Without switching to ddwrt, does anyone know of a router that does wake on wan?

[barnabas1969]

More correctly... you need a router that can take an incoming packet on the WAN (that contains a "magic packet"), and send it as a broadcast packet on the LAN.

[gabrielcab]

I have a linksys router with the DD-WRT, and what I do is that I enter my router remotely and use the router GUI and it has a wake up button to a selected computer.

[makryger]

It looks like, in the end, it was a problem with my router, which did not allow it to save ip lists. This seems to be a common problem with basically all mainstream routers nowadays. My older trendnet just happened to be able to do it by fluke; newer trendnets do not. I was able to return my belkin router, fortunately (despite having it for 10 months) and buy a netgear router that had ddwrt firmware. one of the few well reviewed routers that has a dual band mode. Now, wol works!